Early Reader Review: Con Academy by Joe Schreiber

Con Academy by Joe Schreiber
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  August 4, 2015

 

Format: Paperback ARC
Source: HMH Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this book in no way alters my opinion or review of the book.

Rating:
 


 


Goodreads Synopsis: 

It's his senior year and Will Shea has conned his way into one of the country's most elite prep schools. But he soon runs into Andrea, a fellow con-artist. With the school not big enough for the both of them, they make a bet that whoever can con Brandt Rush, the richest, most privileged student in the school out of $50K, gets to stay at the school. Will starts setting up his con (an online poker scam) with his uncle who's one of the best grifters in the business, but also with the unwanted help of his father. The plot thickens as Will starts falling for fellow student Gatsby, and some of Will's lies start to catch up with him. In this twisty tale of scams, secrets, lies and deception, it hard to figure out who's conning who!

I was very interested in this book - thinking that based on the cover it would be about playing cards or some type of that con, but when I read the synopsis I realized that it was much more than that. The book follows a high school boy who happens to con people - he gets into a situation that means that he has to con a big-wig at the fancy school he is attending in order to play out the rest of his life the way he wants it. 

It was a pretty great book too. The main character is believable as a kid who is trying to escape his real life and obtain another, and a lot of the high school drama is fairly realistic too, although blown out of proportion for this wealthy high school population. 

The characters were easy to follow and the plot was very good and I expected a twist of an ending but nothing like what happened and it was great and I could think back to bit where the new ending made SO much more sense.

There were only a few points that I was like '...ehhhh...' about but I don't want to go into detail because it would spoil some huge plot points. Overall this was a fun read and I am so happy to have experienced it. I am passing this one along to my husband to read, I think he will enjoy it too.